Chipping Away
by AniRemi
Summary: Here he was, Dr. Horrible, the rising star, the innovative new genius behind the Evil League of Evil – defacing public property." Oneshot.


Chipping Away

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Dr. Horrible had to stop his work and let out a bitter laugh when he thought about how ridiculous this was. The laugh was meant to come out acidic and strong, but he barely even heard it as it evaporated in the 2 AM humidity.

Here he was, Dr. Horrible, the rising star, and the innovative new genius behind the Evil League of Evil – defacing public property.

Well, since it was Captain Hammer's name that he was defacing, you could consider it a public service. If the public even noticed the difference. This was just the Caring Hands Homeless Shelter, after all – not like he was rearranging the letters of the Hollywood Sign. He smirked at the idea – yeah, the media would have a cow over that. On the other hand, he could blow this homeless shelter to pieces and nobody would bat an eyelash.

God, he was so pathetic. He belonged in his laboratory with an evil pot of coffee, wired and dangerous, formulating a plan to destroy the oppressive hierarchy of modern society once and for all. Not out here, on Orange Boulevard in the wee hours of the morning, scratching a name out of a marble dedication brick like a petty criminal because he couldn't let go –

He dropped the chisel and stepped back for a moment to give his sore hands a break. At first he'd had this wild idea of zapping the name off the brick with one of his ray guns, but since he'd forgotten to bring a set of batteries, he'd been forced to resort to the chisel. He was going to have hella blisters in the morning.

Backing away from the building, Dr. Horrible sat down crosslegged on the sidewalk, and glanced up and down the street, still nervous that someone was going to see him and recognize him. Well, maybe not, since he wasn't in his ELE getup. He shifted his leg slightly and it bumped against the white paper box next to his ray gun bag.

Reaching for the box, he allowed himself a sigh. He didn't open it; it was just Penny's flowers again.

When Penny's family from the East Coast had heard the news last fall, they found his alter ego Billy through the supreme powers of the Internet and had since been sending him flowers for her grave every week.

He never actually delivered them. First off, it was an absurd idea, and if Penny's obviously lazy relatives were really that bleeding-heart bereaved, they'd come to see her grave for themselves.

Secondly – it wasn't helping him to forget.

"You will renounce your past and all your good deeds." Bad Horse had said that at Dr. Horrible's inauguration ceremony. And he remembered how readily he'd agreed to that clause. Renounce the past. He wanted nothing more than to just be able to forget. Forget the Laundry Mart, the frozen yogurt, Penny's wide eyes as she stopped breathing…Captain Hammer's Pepsodent smile glistening for the cameras while he took the credit for Penny's entire raison d'être…

His hands began to shake with months-old rage. And in the back of his mind, that disturbed him even more. He was a supervillain now; he was supposed to be above childish anger.

Dr. Horrible grabbed his chisel and attacked Captain Hammer's name with renewed energy.

Eventually the anger had passed, and he was crouching down to collect chips of marble off the damp sidewalk. He tossed them into the gutter and faced the marble brick, grimly satisfied at the blank dent he'd created in it.

It was just a shame he couldn't etch in the name that really belonged there.

He glanced down at the flower box. What the heck. He was already having a pity party for himself; why not go all out? Kneeling, he carefully removed the lid.

Six striped carnations rested in a bed of cellophane and tissue paper, two red, two white, and two pink. They were beautiful, and they didn't belong with him.

An idea wormed its way into Dr. Horrible's mind. Without stopping to wonder why it was a good idea, to philosophize or justify to himself why he was doing something so un-evil, he lifted the carnations out of the box. He cradled them in his hands as he turned back to the wall, and gently set them down on the sidewalk, right under the dedication brick. Forget Penny's grave – this building was her life, and this was where these carnations belonged.

He stepped back and stared at the bright flowers as the clock struck 3 AM, doing anything but renouncing his past.

For the rest of the year, as Penny's relatives sent him bouquet after bouquet of carnations, Dr. Horrible brought each one to the Caring Hands Homeless shelter and left it under the blank marble brick.

Nobody ever noticed the change. However, that summer, there was quite a media stir when some moron vandalized John Woo's concrete autograph near Grauman's Chinese Theater.

"Q.E.D.," Dr. Horrible muttered as he delivered the carnations the day after that incident. "Q.E.D."

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_Well, after five years writing fanfiction, I still love writing angst and pity parties. You'd think I'd have grown out of that by now. Ah, well. Angst and Dr. Horrible make good company, considering the good doctor is the ultimate Woobie character of the decade. Anyway, if you liked it, consider adding it to your favorites or leaving me a review! Cheers._


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